Bob Dylan – Oshawa 2008 (Look Back Records LBR-029/030)

Disc 1 (77:06): Intro., The Wicked Messenger, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues, The Levee’s Gonna Break, Tangled Up In Blue, High Water (For Charley Patton), Man In The Long Black Coat, Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, Desolation Row, ‘Till I Fell In Love With You, Simple Twist Of Fate, Honest With Me

Disc 2 (43:14): When The Deal Goes Down, Highway 61 Revisited, Nettie Moore, Thunder On The Mountain, crowd applause, Like A Rolling Stone, band intro, All Along The Watchtower

Dylan’s appearance in Oshawa was the eleventh out of fifteen shows in Canada in 2008 and like pretty much all of them is captured in a beautiful sounding stereo audience DAT recording of the entire show. The mix is heavy sounding as is normal for tapes made in hockey arenas. And much like how the California shows in September are considered to be somewhat of a homecoming, so too the visit to Canada was a chance for Dylan to have an artistic homecoming of sorts when, several days before this date, he visited the boyhood home of Neil Young in Winnipeg. As Rolling Stone magazine reported:

“Earlier this month Winnipeg Residents John Kiernan and Patti Regan came home from buying groceries to find Bob Dylan waiting in front of their home. Like many before him, Dylan (in town for a concert) had come to see the childhood home of Neil Young. The couple – accustomed to rock fans making a pilgrimage – didn’t recognize Dylan at first. “I’m looking around, and I realize, this guy having a tuque on has really great cowboy boots on,’ Kiernan said. ‘He was wearing really nice leather pants. And I realize I’m staring face-to-face with Bob Dylan.’ Dylan talked to the couple for about 25 minutes. They took him to Young’s old bedroom – where their 16-year-old daughter currently resides. ‘[Dylan said] ‘OK, so this was his view, and this was where he listened to his music,’ said Kiernan.”

Oshawa has several special points besides the tight performance. Toronto bluesman and guitarist Paul James plays with Dylan on the first five songs, replacing Stu and Denny. After the introduction he surprisingly starts the set off with “The Wicked Messenger.” This old song was played on November 5th in LaCrosse, Wisconsin for the first time in three years and in Oshawa is given its second performance. James stood at the side of the stage spitting out wailing leads on the guitar throughout the track. “Tangled Up In Blue” is another highlight played in a slow and deliberate version with song emphasis upon the melody. The ending of the set is interesting since it is dominated by several tracks from Modern Times, “When The Deal Goes Down,” “Nettie Moore” and “Thunder On The Mountain.” Oshawa 2008 is a good release pressed on CDR limited to one hundred numbered copies.